TEM253: The real reason your rates are so low

TEM253

The thing we are afraid of and why we should realize that the hardest part is already done.

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TEM253: The real reason your rates are so low

The thing we are afraid of and why we should realize that the hardest part is already done.

On Today's Episode of The Entrepreneurial Musician:

• Why we charge people less than we really think we are worth (and why the reason doesn’t hold up to scrutiny)

• The hardest emotional part of a sale and why it’s already done once someone has contacted you to inquire about your services

• Why we must not associate us promoting our music with pushy sell at all costs tactics like they use at car dealerships (and how we frequently do equate them on some subconscious level)

• This week’s quote is Naval Ravikant saying more in four words than I can say in four episodes!

Show notes for all episodes of TEM including topics discussed, links to all books and websites referenced can be found at:

http://www.tem.fm/shownotes

Monday YouTube Fix: Philip Glass

If you want to be transported to another place, close your eyes, take some slow, deep breaths through your nose and listen to this.

Pure brilliance.

The musical storytelling is off the charts with this piece and with this performance. There is so much intent behind it. Exactly what was intended is up to the listener to ultimately decide but you can tell that he desperately needs you to hear it.

And that’s the kind of playing and writing that changes people. This is the kind of music that makes you feel like your soul is on fire.

Enjoy!

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TEM252: Your most productive days

TEM252

Five choices that are the key to having your most productive days.

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TEM252: Your most productive days

Five choices that are the key to having your most productive days.

On Today's Episode of The Entrepreneurial Musician:

• The completely overhauled and simplified TEM Patreon

• Five decisions that can lead to having your most productive days

• A great quote from Jim Rohn on running your day rather than your day running you

• A reminder that if your business doesn’t have a hard part then you don’t have a business

Show notes for all episodes of TEM including topics discussed, links to all books and websites referenced can be found at:

http://www.tem.fm/shownotes

Monday YouTube Fix: Dale Clevenger on Audtion Preparation

What a find this video recent addition to YouTube is!

We recently lost one of the greatest horn players to ever live, former Principal Horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Dale Clevenger.

This video from 1983 is an almost hour-long deep dive into preparing for an audition. He also plays examples throughout.

It is a gift to be able to hear someone at this level talk at such length about something this specific in 1983. Videos like this were not commonplace back then!

Here is his breakdown of topics with the sub-headers used in the video:

1. Tone Quality

• Consistency

• Steadiness

• Beauty

2. Rhythm

• Pulse

• Inner Rhythm

• Tempo

3. Intonation

• Key you are playing in

• Scale degree in that key

• Placement in diatonic intonation

• Tendencies of your instrument

4. Instrumental Technique

• Articulation

• Bowing

• Tonguing

• Breathing

5. Style and Phrasing

• Poetic and dramatic expression

• Personality

• Listener interest

6. Technical Prowess

7. Control

• Extreme dynamics

• Extreme registers

8. Ensemble Technique

• Projection

• Balance

9. Experience

• Knowledge of standard repertoire

10. Requirements of position

• Doubling

• Specialized literature

• Special effects or techniques

11. Interpretive style

• Flexibility

• Tone color

• Vibrato

• Timbre

There’s an awful lot to unpack in this one.

Enjoy!

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The Brass Junkies Episode 183: Listener's Choice

Lance and I took questions from our listeners in another installment of Listener’s Choice.

My favorite part of the questions was when we talked about ways to stay focused in the practice room.

And I included a bonus rant about the Super Bowl halftime show. (Actually, about a music educator calling the performers “non-musicians” which absolutely set me the hell off!)

You can watch the episode on YouTube below or head over to Pedal Note Media for all of the links to where to find it.

Enjoy!

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On This Episode of The Brass Junkies:

• Melissa in Saginaw

  • What is a funny story your family tells about you that you’d like to share?

• Jimmy in Albuquerque

  • What is some advice you have about being more focused in the practice room?

• Bill in Carlsbad

  • What occupation (other than your own) would you try if you had to start tomorrow and it couldn’t be related to music at all?

• NFTs

• Super Bowl Halftime

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TEM251: The Goldilocks Rule

TEM251

The power of working on tasks that are just right.

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TEM251: The Goldilocks Rule

The power of working on tasks that are just right.

On Today's Episode of The Entrepreneurial Musician:

• The Goldilocks Rule and why it’s important to always keep it in mind

• How I’ve applied it to my recent foray into video editing

• My challenge to you of going on record with me and yourself about which task that falls into the Goldilocks Zone for you that you are going to commit to moving forward on by emailing me at andrew@tem.fm

• A great quote from Lily Tomlin

Show notes for all episodes of TEM including topics discussed, links to all books and websites referenced can be found at:

http://www.tem.fm/shownotes

Super Bowl Halftime Rant

I was floored by today’s Super Bowl halftime show. Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg are musical heroes of mine.

I learned so much about groove, flow and musical storytelling from them both.

Legends.

And imagine a world where the average classical musician performed with even a fraction of the conviction and urgency that Mary J. Blige does.

Anyways, I posted the following to Facebook on Super Bowl Sunday and I’m posting it here because I think it’s important.

I beg all music educators to remain open to all forms of music and expression. Not just in theory, but actually remain open to it.

Can’t believe that’s something that needs to be said but here we are…

I beg you to not marginalize music that almost certainly wasn’t made for you in the first place. Your students are watching.

Just saw a post from a retired band director calling the musicians from today's halftime show "a bunch of no talent non musicians."

This person also said there were "no melodies" and "repetitive rhythmic boredom" just because it didn't fit into his narrow definition of what a melody is or that for some reason rhythmically complex music is somehow better.

AND HE HAD THE GALL TO CALL THEM NON-MUSICIANS!

Not that he didn't care for it. Not that it could have been better. That they aren't even musicians.

Get TF out of here with that nonsense.

Might make his brain explode to learn that I've repeatedly referenced some of those "non-musicians" in master classes all over the world at the likes of Juilliard and the Royal Academy of Music, places which I'm sure he would agree are "serious" schools of music, to "actual musicians" playing "real music" that features "actual melodies."

AND IT INSTANTLY MADE THAT "REAL MUSIC" BETTER!

Funny how explaining the difference between groove and time to a student by describing being way on the front of the beat like Eminen or way on the back of the beat like Snoop Dogg is a great way for them to get it *instantly*. EVEN IF THEY ARE PLAYING BACH!

Sorry for the all caps. That non-musician comment really set me off.

I'm going to go blast The Chronic 2001 (that Sam Pilafian used to make all of his students listen to) and work on my groove.

#endrant #fornowatleast

The 4-Step Process for Learning Absolutely Anything

I found this article about the Feynman Learning Technique fascinating. It is a 4-step method to learn absolutely anything:

1. Pretend to teach a concept you want to learn about to a student in the sixth grade.

2. Identify gaps in your explanation. Go back to the source material to better understand it.

3. Organize and simplify.

4. Transmit (optional).

The article goes into detail on each step but it really is beautiful in its simplicity.

My favorite part is that the person you are teaching is a 6th grader and not a really smart adult who loves to learn.

An 11-year-old is just old enough to learn anything as long as the explanation is simple. Being able to teach something succinctly requires truly understanding the subject at hand. It’s a great test.

Hope you enjoy this article as much as I did!

TEM250: Eric Branner of Fons

TEM250

The co-founder and CEO of Fons on the value of enthusiasm, his belief in people and why you can safely double your rates.

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TEM250: Eric Branner of Fons

The co-founder and CEO of Fons on the value of enthusiasm, his belief in people and why you can safely double your rates.

On Today's Episode of The Entrepreneurial Musician:

• Eric’s journey from a very small town in rural Virginia to the big city of Seattle and why he feels his education didn’t 

• Why founding and running Fons has been like being in a band

• Eric’s desire to be around people who know a lot more about something than he does and where that desire comes from

• How earlier in his journey he made up for a lack of education with enthusiasm and why he looks for enthusiasm when partnering with people

• His belief that everyone is able to find that thing that will light them up

• His honesty about saying yes to too many things at times

• Why not everything needs to be scalable

• His decision to cut back on guitar teaching even though he was making six figures doing it because he could feel himself getting burned out

• Why you are safe to double your rates

• Why not charging very much for something is a form of hiding

• The power of situational awareness

• The lesson that Andrew’s father taught him in high school that has stuck with him to this day

•  The Goldilocks Rule and how he applied it to starting Fons

Show notes for all episodes of TEM including topics discussed, links to all books and websites referenced can be found at:

http://www.tem.fm/shownotes

TEM Coaching Chat: Don't Blend In

This week’s TEM Coaching Chat is all about not blending in. I touched on the following:

• A 60-second clip from TBJ182 featuring Jeff Curnow of The Philadelphia Orchestra about his time with the legendary Empire Brass

• How Empire Brass stood out from other brass quintets and chamber ensembles

• The various ways a musician can stand out

Enjoy!